Air Controllers Union Anticipates Contract Approval

Union leaders have predicted easy approval of the first labor contract for air traffic controllers since President Reagan fired 11,400 of them during a strike eight years ago.

The new three-year contract with the Federal Aviation Administration will help ensure air safety, R. Steve Bell, president of the year-old National Air Traffic Controllers Assn., said late last week.

It gives controllers guaranteed breaks, limited immunity in reporting system errors and participation in accident investigations and some FAA decision making.

The tentative agreement signed late Thursday in Baltimore does not cover salaries, which are set by Congress and range from $19,000 to $55,000 annually.

But Bell said new FAA-union “professional councils” would be set up. He added that such labor-management cooperation could lead to increased compensation, better working hours and more health benefits.

Both sides described the talks as evidence of vastly improved relations between the FAA and its 13,000 controllers since the 1981 illegal strike that led to the bankruptcy and decertification of their old union. More than half the controllers, who monitor and control air traffic at 400 sites around the country, have joined the new bargaining unit.

“It’s a clear victory for both the FAA and the union,” said Bell, predicting that the agreement would be approved in a vote by union members within the next few weeks.

“It represents a new spirit of cooperation between labor and management at FAA, in sharp contrast to past problems,” said FAA spokesman John G. Leyden. He said talks with the new union went smoothly, while the old union used to begin by asking for such things as Olympic-sized swimming pools at each FAA site and other costly benefits the government agency had no authority to provide.

“The new contract goes a long way toward helping airline safety,” Bell said in a telephone interview. “What it contains is a safety-system contract between the FAA and controllers and with the American flying public.”

The contract would for the first time guarantee controllers a break away from any controller duties after two hours monitoring air traffic. Bell said controllers often are worked for two hours straight and then switched to another duty without a break.

The return of limited controller immunity, eliminated before the 1981 strike, would allow workers to report errors and system deficiencies without fear of retribution, as long as they did not involve negligence.

“The system, if errors were made and reported, tended to be punitive in nature rather than preventive,” Bell said. He said management gave up none of its rights to discipline employees.

The contract would also include controllers on boards that review system errors and in groups that oversee technical development of the system and evaluate facilities.

“The FAA was heretofore a little bit testy with allowing controllers to get into the procedure aspect of the job,” Bell said.

The FAA also agreed to quickly release controllers from duties for participation in accident investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Controllers have not been included on official investigative teams since the old contract, Bell said.